Contemporary cellular phone systems and broadband wireless metropolitan networks are generally divided into a number of cells distributed in a pattern to preclude co-channel interferences and provide coverage of mobile and fixed subscriber units operating within the service area of the system. Each cell generally includes a base station that employs radio frequency (RF) transceiver equipment, antennas, and wire line communication equipment. In addition, some cells also include repeaters, distributed antenna systems (DAS), and/or remote radio heads in order to extend the coverage of the base station over longer distances, throughout buildings or tunnels, around obstacles, etc. These coverage extension elements, hereafter generically referred to as “repeaters”, serve to filter, amplify, and re-radiate signals in both directions, from the base station to subscriber units (the “downlink” direction), and from subscriber units back to the base station (the “uplink” direction).
A repeater is normally configured to provide either a fixed amount of output power or a fixed amount of gain in each direction. Maintaining the desired operating levels is critical to achieving optimal network coverage and performance. Simply measuring the output power of the repeater at any given time is inadequate to guarantee proper operation, as the input signal levels may vary over time.
Therefore there is a need in the art for an inexpensive system able to monitor the total system gain and overall performance of a repeater, and to provide an indication if its performance falls outside pre-determined limits.